Bitcoin has reached the tipping point

[Spoetnik]

We hit 330 again now..
Lot of dumping as usual on BTC-e

effects on Altcoins ?

[devphp]

We hit 330 again now..
Lot of dumping as usual on BTC-e

effects on Altcoins ?

Cryptos are in the transition period that coincides with the first bear market for Bitcoin (to last 12+ months), effects on altcoins are multidirectional, chaotic and unknown. Better stick to something with good fundamentals and try to buy more of it on dips regardless of where Bitcoin price is heading, and diversify too.

[V500]

Bitcoin is the lesson we needed to learn:
don't hold coins longterm that inflate with 10%+ annually.

[rugrats]

Bitcoin's value went up five-fold in just a few months late last year primarily owing to Mark Karpeles machinations at Mt.Gox and the entry of Chinese whales into cryptoland. The price spike stopped around the time China's central bank banned financial institutions from participating in Bitcoin trade. Prices started to slide shortly thereafter, not least because of the Mt.Gox fiasco.

By the first quarter of 2014, I think everyone realized that the height of Q4/2013 was a false dawn, and a major correction was due.

Since then, four major factors, in my opinion, has further dampened Bitcoin's value.

The first, the rumored external accumulation of BTCs by whales in anticipation of the entry of U.S.-based institutional investors into the scene.
Second, the Chinese central bank's instruction for banks to close the account of Bitcoin exchanges. This triggered a sell-off that has lasted right up to now.
Third, the increasingly centralized nature of Bitcoin mining. The shadow following Ghash.io has only become larger, and the rumored SEC letter to them earlier this week has made some extremely nervous.
Fourth, the rape of Litecoin by ASICs. Many are building a position in LTC using BTC, in anticipation of a recovery.

I don't believe Bitcoin is nearing its end. I think this is a period of consolidation and correction in a very nervous and easily spooked market.

[Spoetnik]

Bitcoin's value went up five-fold in just a few months late last year primarily owing to Mark Karpeles machinations at Mt.Gox and the entry of Chinese whales into cryptoland. The price spike stopped around the time China's central bank banned financial institutions from participating in Bitcoin trade. Prices started to slide shortly thereafter, not least because of the Mt.Gox fiasco.

By the first quarter of 2014, I think everyone realized that the height of Q4/2013 was a false dawn, and a major correction was due.

Since then, four major factors, in my opinion, has further dampened Bitcoin's value.

The first, the rumored external accumulation of BTCs by whales in anticipation of the entry of U.S.-based institutional investors into the scene.
Second, the Chinese central bank's instruction for banks to close the account of Bitcoin exchanges. This triggered a sell-off that has lasted right up to now.
Third, the increasingly centralized nature of Bitcoin mining. The shadow following Ghash.io has only become larger, and the rumored SEC letter to them earlier this week has made some extremely nervous.
Fourth, the rape of Litecoin by ASICs. Many are building a position in LTC using BTC, in anticipation of a recovery.

I don't believe Bitcoin is nearing its end. I think this is a period of consolidation and correction in a very nervous and easily spooked market.

ya i kinda figured as much all along too.. i just wouldn't want to have to type all that out.. i'm pretty damn lazy LOL

[devphp]

It's interesting that when bitcoiners finally realize that Bitcoin itself is not going anywhere, the rush into crypto 2.0 technologies will be quick and violent. And because the supply of crypto 2.0 tokens is limited, the price will shoot up. At this point many people will be asking "what happened?", "why did the price of a certain crypto 2.0 go up so quickly?", "is it too late to buy now?" usual questions.

[V500]

too high inflation too long into adoption kills off adoption and makes it look bad in general.

We know that now.
By the end of the year media is going to beat bitcoin as a popped bubble and ponzi if it doesn't start to perform.

Inflation helps noone

If it doesn't get off the ground soon it's done with. If it rises like crazy on the other hand after this performance past year people will say "somethings wrong with it" and they will be right about that.
People will not see it as a currency but as a manipulated casino for the crazy ones. Almost too late now. If it turns now and rises to 1000$+ in a matter of days or weeks people will say it's an unclean asset because the performance is not normal or in the slightest way predictable.

High inflation and clumsy halving in bitcoin made it ultra-volatile, look very bad and shy away investors.

[naplam]

It's interesting that when bitcoiners finally realize that Bitcoin itself is not going anywhere, the rush into crypto 2.0 technologies will be quick and violent. And because the supply of crypto 2.0 tokens is limited, the price will shoot up. At this point many people will be asking "what happened?", "why did the price of a certain crypto 2.0 go up so quickly?", "is it too late to buy now?" usual questions.

it's not happening because the so-called crpyto-2.0 features are useless

[LeChatNoir]

It's interesting that when bitcoiners finally realize that Bitcoin itself is not going anywhere, the rush into crypto 2.0 technologies will be quick and violent. And because the supply of crypto 2.0 tokens is limited, the price will shoot up. At this point many people will be asking "what happened?", "why did the price of a certain crypto 2.0 go up so quickly?", "is it too late to buy now?" usual questions.

I agree.

It's a shame and a danger that bitcoin currently represents about 94% of total cryptocurrencies market cap.
This is due to bitcoin maximalism and those bitcoin cheerleaders who fell in love with bitcoin, don't want to see the limits of bitcoin, think bitcoin is perfect and refuse to diversify even 1% of their holdings into valid alternatives.

[naplam]

It's a shame and a danger that bitcoin currently represents about 94% of total cryptocurrencies market cap.
This is due to being firstbitcoin maximalism and those bitcoin cheerleaders who fell in love with bitcoin, don't want to see the limits of bitcoin, think bitcoin is perfect and refuse to diversify even 1% of their holdings into valid alternatives.

fixed that for you

[Dr. Coin]

I disagree with a lot being said here. Bitcoins are still more useful than other crypto currencies due to its usability and higher price actually. Someone mentioned why use Bitcoin if we can get other cryptos for cheaper and still have the same usability. Well, first off, most other cryptos do not have the same usability on a practical level (forget the anonymity and other shenanigans for a moment). Major corporations are accepting them and the higher price makes it more practical. Unless you call practical using 1,000,000 crypto coins to pay for a can of soda. Also, there you go again, mentioning cheaper. Why does that matter? Everyone just wants to profit, but forget that. Look at it like a currency if you want Bitcoins, or any crypto to move far.

Bitcoins are at a very low point right now, price wise, not necessarily momentum wise if you look at the big picture.

Just because 1 Bitcoin is not worth what it used to be worth is not a bad thing. If it stabilized at $200, that would be fine by me and this consistent price further ensures usability and practicality to the masses whether its for purchasing items, or using it as an investment to store money.

I do not think that all other cryptos are silly, some have good value, and by some, I mean 2-4 of them.

Just my two cents.

[naplam]

The most promising news for bitcoin in quite a while:
http://rt.com/business/200883-banking-secrecy-obsolete-berlin-tax/

[gustocoin]

Clearly the way Bitcoin is mined is extremely wasteful. It has probably cost tens of millions of dollars to create what we have so far and that cost is only going to rise more quickly going forward. A completely new approach to mining that does not lead to waste but actually creates benefits for miners and society will be the next revolution. Believe me.

[TaunSew]

It's interesting that when bitcoiners finally realize that Bitcoin itself is not going anywhere, the rush into crypto 2.0 technologies will be quick and violent. And because the supply of crypto 2.0 tokens is limited, the price will shoot up. At this point many people will be asking "what happened?", "why did the price of a certain crypto 2.0 go up so quickly?", "is it too late to buy now?" usual questions.

I agree.

It's a shame and a danger that bitcoin currently represents about 94% of total cryptocurrencies market cap.
This is due to bitcoin maximalism and those bitcoin cheerleaders who fell in love with bitcoin, don't want to see the limits of bitcoin, think bitcoin is perfect and refuse to diversify even 1% of their holdings into valid alternatives.

Not when you consider the distribution breakdown of Bitcoin.  Most of the funds are held by very few people (or even lost wallets), so it doesn't make any sense for them to champion or empower another alternate currency when their gains would be higher just from hodling Bitcoin.

Not that it really matters as the real persons behind Bitcoin is only 500K-2M million.  Bitcoin with such a small userbase will likely be replaced by another coin better at promotion and userbase expansion and the biggest Bitcoin holders will be denial and would refuse to move over and even would FUD that currency as much as possible.

[TaunSew]

Clearly the way Bitcoin is mined is extremely wasteful. It has probably cost tens of millions of dollars to create what we have so far and that cost is only going to rise more quickly going forward. A completely new approach to mining that does not lead to waste but actually creates benefits for miners and society will be the next revolution. Believe me.

Not even close.  There's multiple vblogs which claim the cost for Bitcoin security is actually $680 million a year.  Something like $2 million is mined everyday and like 80% of it is dumped to meet the overhead of production (electricity, factory space, new hardware).

This cost for security will only increase exponential alongside the growth of Bitcoin.  So $10K Bitcoin might mean security cost exceeding $10s of billions a year and this would all go to a few mining professionals who might be dumping 80%-95% of that.

[devphp]

I disagree with a lot being said here. Bitcoins are still more useful than other crypto currencies due to its usability and higher price actually. Someone mentioned why use Bitcoin if we can get other cryptos for cheaper and still have the same usability. Well, first off, most other cryptos do not have the same usability on a practical level (forget the anonymity and other shenanigans for a moment). Major corporations are accepting them and the higher price makes it more practical. Unless you call practical using 1,000,000 crypto coins to pay for a can of soda. Also, there you go again, mentioning cheaper. Why does that matter? Everyone just wants to profit, but forget that. Look at it like a currency if you want Bitcoins, or any crypto to move far.

Bitcoins are at a very low point right now, price wise, not necessarily momentum wise if you look at the big picture.

Just because 1 Bitcoin is not worth what it used to be worth is not a bad thing. If it stabilized at $200, that would be fine by me and this consistent price further ensures usability and practicality to the masses whether its for purchasing items, or using it as an investment to store money.

I do not think that all other cryptos are silly, some have good value, and by some, I mean 2-4 of them.

Just my two cents.

Bitcoin is not useful to common folks and that's what counts. Crypto currencies need to find unique use cases to generate demand to be successful. Major corporations accepting them? There are not so many yet and all that serves is to milk the Bitcoin ecosystem for fiat, the price drops as a result. The right approach would be to make it a closed loop where Bitcoins that merchants accept for goods and services are used by them to pay back their suppliers, but no, this is not happening. Bitcoins are swapped for fiat immediately, this fiat leakage needs to be fixed before this ecosystem has a chance to be as dominating the world as some dream it should be.

Bitcoin still has to test below $300 again as mentioned a few posts above, and if that holds, that could be the low in this bear market. It can't go above $500 before it re-tests and doesn't break the below $300 (~$275) target it reached in October.

What is your plan if this bear market is to continue another 12 months?

[Wekkel]

What is your plan if this bear market is to continue another 12 months?

I am HODLING

[djm34]

I disagree with a lot being said here. Bitcoins are still more useful than other crypto currencies due to its usability and higher price actually. Someone mentioned why use Bitcoin if we can get other cryptos for cheaper and still have the same usability. Well, first off, most other cryptos do not have the same usability on a practical level (forget the anonymity and other shenanigans for a moment). Major corporations are accepting them and the higher price makes it more practical. Unless you call practical using 1,000,000 crypto coins to pay for a can of soda. Also, there you go again, mentioning cheaper. Why does that matter? Everyone just wants to profit, but forget that. Look at it like a currency if you want Bitcoins, or any crypto to move far.

Bitcoins are at a very low point right now, price wise, not necessarily momentum wise if you look at the big picture.

Just because 1 Bitcoin is not worth what it used to be worth is not a bad thing. If it stabilized at $200, that would be fine by me and this consistent price further ensures usability and practicality to the masses whether its for purchasing items, or using it as an investment to store money.

I do not think that all other cryptos are silly, some have good value, and by some, I mean 2-4 of them.

Just my two cents.

Bitcoin is not useful to common folks and that's what counts. Crypto currencies need to find unique use cases to generate demand to be successful. Major corporations accepting them? There are not so many yet and all that serves is to milk the Bitcoin ecosystem for fiat, the price drops as a result. The right approach would be to make it a closed loop where Bitcoins that merchants accept for goods and services are used by them to pay back their suppliers, but no, this is not happening.

closed loop never works... looks at russian ruble during soviet era, that was a closed loop money since it wasn't bound to international market.
We know, now that the experience is over, it didn't work and would require self-sufficiency, which never entirely happens.
Also the market isn't interested either by this as it has to have a value to interest people...

[mistercoin]

Meh. it is really hard to say. Crypto in general is probably the only other tech that people in this type of community will ever go to anyway, or at least, people who are true to the original philosophy of crypto-currency.

[devphp]

closed loop never works...

I sure didn't mean a 100% closed loop, there would always be fiat gateways back and forth. But when 95-100% of bitcoins paid to merchants are immediately exchanged back to fiat, that's bad, mkay )